Heartbreak Hill & Back 19ks

A little late out today, what with the Cricket World Cup victory and a still sore ankle from yesterday. I wasn't that keen on running.
I finally headed out at midday, only 21 degrees so not too hot. Headed out on a hilly run up to Dover Heights and back via Heartbreak Hill.
The ankle kept letting me know it was sore with every second step. So the pace was a fair bit slower than I really wanted.

Total was 19ks in 1:34:53. Average pace of 4:59 per klm.

I was even spotted by CR Becky O in Waverley while I was out.

My parents took the photo today.

Hope the army truck is moved off the Striders North Head 10k course by next Saturday. It isn't exactly on the course, maybe 50m short of the start line. And no I did not run from South Head to North Head. Although that would make a great run. Watsons Bay to the City, cross the bridge and then run to Manly. Catch the ferry back to the Quay.

Edit: A couple more photo's of the carnage.

Athletics NSW Novice 10k

Novice meaning I have not won an open medal in an athletics comp which is not a relay. Never going to happen so I can race the Novice for ever.
Huge mental let down today after feeling great mentally after the 50k. I really didn't feel like I was racing for some reason. Maybe because the course is 10k so I just figured I couldn't PB on a grass course. Who knows? Scarborough Park at Ramsgate was the course, grass and sandy soil.

We had about a dozen Striders running the Novice 10k today. They have no k markers at all so you just have to run hard and try and hold your form. Well I did that but it was just 4min/k pace.
Twisted my ankle a couple of times around the back end of the course but that really didn't hurt me I just ran like crap. I was running near Blue Dog and Nando for awhile and Blue Dog raced off after about 4k and nearly equalled his PB. Super Run. Nando just finished ahead of me. Horrie said he was chasing me and I did see him once.

Finished with 39:42. Pretty crap but a course PB by over 5 minutes. Ok I had just started running again last year. Road 10k and Striders 10k next week. Hope I can pull something decent out.

30 x 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off

Nice and cool to run in tonight. Southerly still blowing a bit strong and no rain.

Ran on a pretty flat course from Centennial Park down to Anzac Pde, up to Aussie Stadium and back again. A pretty flat course.

Ran 7.6ks in the 30 minutes. Average pace of 3:56 per klm. Pretty happy with the efforts, the floats could have been faster I guess.

Did a 1k warmup and a 1k cooldown after the session.

Heartbreak Hill & Back 18ks

After watching the Pies finally knock over the Bombers at the 'G, I headed out for a run.
Pretty windy and had a few showers fall on me during the run.

Ran from home up to Bondi Junction and then down to Rose Bay and up Heartbreak Hill and back again past the cemetery on Military Rd and Old South Head Rd. A very hilly run which I used to do once a week before the stress fractures came to haunt me.

18.6ks in 1:29:31. Average pace of 4:48 per klm. Felt nice and easy running at that pace with the hills on the run.

Flake Fartlek

Greeted with a strong southerly wind and a few showers tonight. Nothing too heavy in the rain department, more like drizzle actually.

The flake fartlek was back on the menu this week. The hip/whatever it is wasn't hurting at all so I went out for a run. Started near my house outside Centennial Park and ran down to Anzac Pde and up to Aussie Stadium and back.

Tried to run the floats faster than my usual slack efforts.

Ran 6.97ks in the 28 mins. Average pace of 4:01 per klm. Almost cracked the 7ks for the session. Did a 1k warmup and a 2k cooldown after the session.

Park Run 17ks

I was out a bit late this morning. 8am after watching the nail biting dead rubber between The Windies and England.
Did a lap of Centennial Park around the grass trail and then started on a second lap including Queens Park and Moore Park in the process. Pretty slow on the sand and dirt today. Doesn't make for speedy running. Helps the feet though.
All up it came to 17.5ks in 1:31.41. Average pace of 5:14 per klm.

I think the pain I have is actually from the sacro-iliac joint. Feels like this due to my body collapsing to one side in pain sometimes according to the net. Rest and Relaxation sounds like a good plan for it. But I'm an amateur, what would I know.

Bought a couple of running books today while picking up my finally fixed camera. Six weeks, damn warranty.
The books were: Alberto Salazar's guide to road racing, and a biography of Percy Cerutty called Why Die? Should be interesting reading.

Rose Bay Roughup 14ks

A hilly run tonight. Headed up through Waverley toward Bondi Junction and then down to Bondi and over to Rose Bay. Then along the harbour front past Point Piper and into Double Bay and then up the hill to Edgecliff and back home again via Centennial Park.
Plenty of hills in the run and part of the run on grass as well.

It was 14.3ks in 1:17.59. Average pace of 5:27 per klm.
Hip still hurting a fair bit. Don't know how I hurt it. Maybe as the action got more tired during the 50k I put more pressure on it.

Tesso I will be doing Sydney Marathon finally, after doing the half twice and missing 2005 with injury.

Back into Business 12ks

I was feeling too sore earlier in the week to go for a run. Tonight the legs felt ok, I was just running a bit slow. My right hip didn't exactly like going for a run. I don't remember hurting it at all.
I ran around the outside of Centennial Park and down to Fox Studios and back. Mostly on grass to keep the legs happy.

Ran 12.1ks in 1:10:00. Average pace of 5:47 per klm.

Thanks for everyone's comments about Canberra. Yes I guess in my head I should have wiped out the thought of the 50k and gone harder for the sub 3hr. But I will say that from the start I was off the pace and just excepted that and ran at the best pace I could without blowing up. I really wanted to get through my first marathon in 2 years so I suppose was too scared to push it in case I did have a crap race. I should just have listened to Nike. 'just do it'.
I won't be running the Gold Coast Marathon as it will hurt all my plans for winter too much. I may do the half up there as I can recover pretty quick from one of them.

Canberra Marathon 50k

Up early at 4:30am to do my usual preparation for a race. A good breakfast etc and then it was down to the Striders tent near the start line by 6:30am. Met up with a few CR's and Striders and was feeling very nervous on the startline.

Stood near Eagle and the Sloth at the start and saw the 3hr balloon take off and I remained behind the pace all day.

Took the early 10k very easy and actually missed the marker but I was behind my split of 42mins by about 30 seconds. I was feeling good but I just couldn't get onto the 4:12k pace that I wanted to run. Nothing I could do about without sending me out for a blowup.

The 3hr pacer remained in front of me as I got to the half marathon in 89:35. Which was now 1min behind my pace. The 3hr pacer was about 30seconds ahead of me at this stage.

Back across the bridge and heading back to Telopea Park for the turnaround I was amazed yet again that runners stay near the 25k drinks table on the right and don't cross straight to the left as that is the racing line. The 3hr group stayed right.

I started catching splinters from the 3hr group after I passed the half marathon point and finally caught Shaun Creighton and his mate at the 26k without balloon by then.

Felt good all the way out to Black Mountain and I was pushing myself to keep the pace solid. Good endurance runs for Six Foot probably helped me in this regard I thought.

From the half marathon I can't recall too many people running past me at so I must have been running ok in the back half.

Finally made it back to the finish and have been given 3:03.28 as my time. A 13 minute PB, so I'm very happy. No sub 3hr but I'll get that some other time.

After the finish I slowly walked up the hill to the drink station and grabbed a waterbag and kept on running out for the rest of the 50k. The extra was damn hard work on the legs as half the run is on concrete which was really hurting me. Met Ewen about the 47k mark and he gave me another gel. Thanks mate. But where's my capuccino?

The end of the bike path came into view and I headed up the long finishing stretch to the finish trying to look good for the cameras.

Finished the 50k in 3:51.07, according to the photo from my parents. Edit: official time 3:51.08.

The most uplifting part of the day besides the cheering on the course was that when we did the extra klms for the ultra nearly every runner acknowledged the other and said keep going or looking good mate. Very special.

Thanks for everyone's support for this race.You have all been fantastic. It's been a long time between Marathons(2 years) but the pain today was worth it for how good you feel when you finish.

And from this race I qualify to run Boston Marathon in 2008. I can't wait.

Some photo's. Take note I let the two girls beat me to the finish. Such a snag!

Memories

Heading down to Canberra soon. Thoughts of 2005 come back to me. And I have pictures.

Here's hoping for good weather tomorrow morning for the race. Pity Vat_Man won't be running this year. But he'll be back soon hopefully.

Thanks for everyone's comments regarding the race. Feeling very nervous this morning actually, I don't think my nerves will settle until I start the race.

Easy 30 Minutes

An easy run down to Fox Studios and back. Nothing too hard.
Total covered was 5.45k's in the 30 minutes. Average of 5:30 per klm.

First day of the carbo loading. I'm using the schedule from the AIS. Now any parents reading this go and try and find a breakfast cereal low in fibre. As everyone knows high fibre cereals are all the go. Finally found some rice bubbles which have only 1.1g per 100g.
Ate the first yoghurt in my life today due to the schedule. I guess muffins are another thing I don't usually eat. And I'm not usually into having breakfast,lunch,dinner and three snacks during the day as well.
I think I'm up a kilo already from this morning, is that normal? I'll be a heifer by race day.

Easy 40 Minutes

It was supposed to be an easy run tonight and felt like it. Maybe felt a bit too easy actually so I ran a bit quicker than I wanted to.

Time was 40 minutes and it was 8.2ks in that time. Average of 4:52 per klm.

Thanks for everyone's comments about the race. I'm feeling the weight of my own expectations let alone anyone else's.
But really I can't wait for it to start already.

5k @ MP

Ran in a flat area around the outside of Centennial Park and up to Fox Studios and back.

The goal was to do 5k's at Marathon Race Pace. That would be 4:12 per klm, or 21:00 for the 5k's. Going out it was 10:20 for the 2.5k's and 10:24 on the way back.

Total 5ks in 20:44. Average pace of 4:09 per klm. A bit under the goal, but it did feel pretty easy running it. Just have to do a few more of those on Sunday morning.

No warmup as per my usual trick, but did do a 1k cooldown after the session. Ran in most of the gear I will be using on sunday bar the sunglasses and hat.

Four Park Frolic 19ks

I was watching the golf this morning so went out about 8am for a run. No rain at all but windy with heaps of water on the streets.
Just did a run around a few parks in the area. Starting with Queens Park and then Centennial Park. Then down to Hyde Park and back through Moore Park and Centennial Park again to finish.

Ran 19.1ks in 1:34.08. Average pace of 4:55 per klm. A few hills in the run around Queens Park and then up to Oxford St and then the hill up William St to Hyde Park.

Saw Naomi and Damien Tancred at the end as I ran around Centennial Park.

Now for Canberra.

Striders Domain 10k Race-PB

First time I have run this course as I was marshalling last year and in Melbourne in 2005. Three loops of 3.3k and a final 100m to finish.
The start is along the flat of Farm Cove but then you have to turn up a hill and along Mrs Macquaries Rd towards the Art Gallery, and then through the Domain and back down the other side past the Boy Charlton pool. And Repeat. So the hill hammers you three times.

Got caught at the start behind Luke Skyrunner and the pram plus a group of about 6 people along the footpath, with no room to get past them until near the 1k mark. I reached that in 4:01 according to Sportsman who was running near me at the time and I was blocked from seeing the marker. The splits didn't get much better as from memory I was around 8/12/16 for the 2/3/4k markers. I wasn't liking what was happening. Struggled to the 5k in 19:42 and it was looking ugly. I figured at that stage 39:30 if I was lucky, awaiting the 2nd half fade.

Missed the 6k split but the 7k was reached in 26:47. Now how did I run 2k in 7:05. Now I think that 7k marker must have been in the wrong spot as I wasn't going that quick even if most of it is downhill. Anyway the 5k and the finish is correct so I don't care.
After thinking I was running heaps quicker I just tried to catch some runners ahead of me and not lose any spots. Got past three before the finish with one taking me back around Mrs Macs Chair.
A final sprint down along Farm Cove which is about 500m and I finished in 38:30. A 1 second PB but I'll take it anyway. Thanks very much. 5k-19:42, 5k-18:48. 10k-38:30. Love that 2nd 5k!
Conditions were shocking during the race with a 15 knot Southerly blowing, water on the course and we run part of it across grass making it a bit slow. Plus a few showers during the race as well.
I did have a battle with Blue Dog for awhile during the race as we were near each other during the 1st k, but after that I just heard him getting further and further behind me as he seemed to have a bad cold and was trying to cough up a lung every 5 metres.

Thanks for everyone's support. No sub 38 today but I'll blame the bad conditions and my tendency to start back from the line and getting blocked. But I'll take another PB.
See some of you in Canberra for the big show.

He's not the messiah, he's just a very naughty boy

Monty Python's Life of Brian.
People: "What should we do?"
Brian: "Don't do anything. Just stop following me."
People:"Follow the gourde, follow the shoe". As they split into two groups and ran off.
Not sure if those were the exact words, but you get the picture. And the title was Brians mother shouting out of the window to the people. No offence to Jesus who was crucified by the Romans today.

Early afternoon I had a run around the Cross country track in Centennial Park. All grass and sand and pretty damp from the showers this morning on the coast.

Total was 8ks in 44:55. Average pace of 5:36. Pretty easy running today as I have the 10k tomorrow morning.

Easy 7ks

Just ran around the outside of Centennial Park tonight. Kept to the grass mostly without stressing myself too much.

Pretty windy as the Southerly had come through earlier today without any rain.

It was 7.4ks in 38:04. Average pace of 5:08 per klm. Nothing too hard about that.

Three Parks & a Bowlo 13ks

Around Centennial Park, Moore Park, Queens Park and back past Randwick Bowling Club. A couple of hills around Queens Park but nothing too hard.
Pretty windy tonight and humid as well.

Ran 13:25 ks in 1:00.21. Average pace of 4:33 per klm. The pace felt very good tonight.

6x1k Reps

Around the bay run with a very humid night and a good breeze blowing as well. Not very pleasant conditions to run in.
Anyway the session had to be done just so I can look good at Canberra next week.

The reps were 3:23, 3:25, 3:27, 3:28, 3:28, 3:30. All done with a 2 minute walk recovery between each rep. Had a 1k warmup and a 1k cool down after the session. Pretty weak effort to keep getting worse. Just couldn't pull any energy to make myself go faster.

Oh, BTW the first rep is the fastest I have ever run 1k. Excellent!

Recovery Run 7ks

A nice cool run around Centennial Park tonight. All on the grass and dirt. Very easy.

Ran 7.4ks in 41:17. Average pace of 5:34 per klm.

Davidson Recreation STaR-26ks

A Striders STaR starting over in East Lindfield. Very hilly and a fair bit of bush as well.
The run goes through Lindfield, Killara, Roseville and Castle Cove.
I was running with a group that including Sportsman, 26 Miles and Silverfox.

I opted to cut the run short but still had about 2ks of bush track to run on. Came back up off the track and back via the road. Caught up with Horrie and Grandpa now with crutches after the run.

All up 26.2ks in 2:10.11. Average pace of 4:58 per klm. Great cool running conditions this morning. The pace was good considering the run is rated H4 out of 5 for hills. That's high.